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Clean Energy releases third edition of 'The Road to Natural Gas'

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. released the third edition of "The Road to Natural Gas," an update of its growing portfolio of customers making the switch to natural gas as a transportation fuel or expansion of their current fleets. This edition includes new agreements signed with additional fueling partners as potential locations for new Clean Energy stations along the expanding “America's Natural Gas Highway.”

"This year is already shaping up to surpass 2012 in the drive towards natural gas," said Clean Energy's CEO/President Andrew J. Littlefair. "After taking the 'chicken versus egg' issue off the table as we completed the first 70 stations of America's Natural Gas Highway, and with gasoline and diesel prices at near historic high levels, we are seeing significant interest and movement by the long-haul trucking industry to make the switch to natural gas."

The third edition of "The Road to Natural Gas" contains a listing of natural gas fuel agreements signed or executed since the second edition was released on Nov. 1, 2012.

With the current national average price of $4.14 a gallon for diesel and $3.74 for gasoline, both fuels are significantly more expensive than natural gas at the pump, up to $1.50 depending on local market conditions. The use of natural gas fuel not only reduces operating costs for vehicles, it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions up to 30% in light-duty vehicles and 23% in medium to heavy-duty vehicles.

The U.S. Department of Energy reports that 98% of the natural gas consumed in the U.S. is sourced in the U.S. and Canada, making natural gas a secure North American energy choice.

The pilots will include a combination of dedicated bus-only lanes that take bus riders out of car congestion, technology to time traffic signals so that buses get more green lights, and platforms that allow riders to “level-board” the bus quickly as they would a subway.

The MetroHealth Line was developed as part of a naming rights agreement between RTA and The MetroHealth System, executed earlier this year, to rebrand the No. 51 family of routes. Those routes have the second highest bus ridership after the HealthLine.